Tag Archives: music

Written by Brenna Gormally, Biology Ph.D. candidate

Graduate school is great, but let’s be honest—sometimes you need to get out of the lab, library, and classroom for some good old-fashioned fun. One of my favorite ways to explore new parts of the city is by going to the local craft breweries. There is really an incredible number of options when it comes to Boston beer—and I’m not even including Sam Adams! Here are some of my favorite spots close to campus. Check out this map for even more spots around the greater Boston area.

Aeronaut is probably my current favorite brewery, mostly because it’s within walking distance to my apartment! They have lots of great beer options and are constantly coming out with new pours. Aeronaut also hosts a number of local musicians so there’s never a dull moment. Although Aeronaut doesn’t often have food options, they encourage people to bring their own or get it delivered! Stop by to play some fun board games, listen to great music, and drink tasty brews.

If you find yourself in Cambridge, be sure to check out Lamplighter in Central Square. The front taproom is a bit smaller than Aeronaut, but be sure to head to the back where they’ve recently opened up more space! Lamplighter also shares their space with Longfellows, a café that serves delicious coffee in the morning and afternoon. It’s the perfect place to get some work done, and transition right into a beer!

Night Shift is a bit farther from Tufts, but it’s worth the trip. Their huge taproom has plenty of room and is a great spot for big groups. In the warmer months, they have a great patio—an uncommon feature in the Boston brewery scene. Night Shift also does a great job of bringing tasty food trucks to their doorstep, so a snack is never far away.

I had to include Harpoon in my list because it was the first brewery I ever went to when I first moved to Boston. It’s a much larger operation than any of the other options I’ve mentioned, but it’s worth schlepping to Seaport for this quintessential Boston experience. The best part is probably the enormous soft pretzels that come in three delicious flavors. I also highly recommend the brewery tour, where they are quite generous with the free samples.

**Guest Blogger**

This blog post was originally posted on Ben Paulding’s personal website on July 8, 2015. Ben is pursuing his M.A. in Ethnomusicology and can be reached at benpaulding@gmail.com.

Greetings from Ghana! After a great year in Boston teaching at Brandeis University, working as a T.A. to Professor Attah Poku at Tufts, and studying ethnomusicology under David Locke, I have finally returned to Kumasi. This summer, I am spending seven weeks with Prof. Poku conducting research on Kete, including interviews, recording sessions, and field trips to visit Kete groups in remote parts of the Ashanti Region. Big thanks to the Tufts University Graduate Student Research Competition for funding a portion of my summer research.

Presenting a gift to the Queen Mother of the Ashanti King’s Fontomfrom drum ensemble.

I arrived in Accra late on Monday, June 29th, exhausted after a four day stopover to visit my friends Elana and Francis in the Netherlands. I spent some time sifting through the Nketia Archives at Legon, then on Thursday, July 2nd, I visited the University of Ghana again to attend the book launch for Discourses in African Musicology: J.H. Kwabena Nketia Festschrift, edited by Kwasi Ampene, the book in which my article “Kete for the International Percussion Community” was recently published. The event, hosted by the Institute of African Studies, featured a performance by the Ghana Dance Ensemble and a speech from the 94-year-old titan of African ethnomusicology, Prof. J.H. Kwabena Nketia.

The day after the book launch, I caught a bus to Kumasi, where I was greeted by many old friends who I’d missed over the past year. On Saturday, we met at the Centre for National Culture to give a private performance to visiting dignitaries from a diverse group of nations including Germany, Japan, and Angola. I enjoyed catching up and playing together with my old teacher royal hartigan, who has been in Kumasi this past year on a Fulbright. On Sunday, Attah and I joined the Cultural Centre to perform at the Akwasidae Festival at Manhyia Palace. Continuing my tradition of bringing custom clothes for the groups I play with, this year, I presented “Manhyia Palace Fontomfrom” shorts to the King’s Fontomfrom group to wear underneath their traditional Ashanti cloth.